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Let us speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent. In matters of faith, let us be joined in unity. In matters of opinion let there be liberty but in all things let there be love. |
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The Word of The Admonisher We cordially invite you to visit with us at our services. For a free copy of our printed bulletin, just email us or write us and give us your name and address. No one will contact you without your request and there will never be any type of solicitation. Go to our Guestbook or simply email antioch @hiwaay.net
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This Weeks Page contents for our On-Line Bulletin:
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The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree A late frost, followed by a drought, left our apple barren last year. Maybe this is why it went into an "over-production" mode this year. One of the limbs grew so heavy that it detached itself from the trunk. A few days later it started raining apples. A few thousand rotting apples has a way of attracting the most unattractive insects....wasps and yellow jackets. So, we devised several games to play with the girls that would allow us to pick up the apples and dispose of them without appearing to do any work. The girls thought that we were just having fun, but we were actually working toward several goals. They were practicing their counting and math skills. They were working on hand-eye coordination. They were developing strategies and using problem solving skills. And they were helping to decrease the possibility of a yellow jacket infestation. It occurred to me that much of what we teach out kids sort of sneaks in during the time we are having fun. At the very least, they are learning when they don't realize that they are being taught. and, too often, we are teaching with realizing it. Let me give you a few examples. We want our children to grow up with a healthy attitude towards sex and marriage. So we set down and tell them about the "birds and the bees", and we tell them God intended all of that to be saved for marriage. Then we cross our fingers and hope for the best because we have done all we can do. Wrong! We haven't even begun to teach them about sex! The real teaching will be done by our example. I'm talking about the teaching you do when the kids don't know they are learning. It happens when you watch TV together, go for a picnic, boat on the river, or shop at the mall. Watch how this happens. You say sex is sacred and should be saved for marriage, but as you watch TV together you laugh at the jokes and antics of characters who are trying to "hook up" with someone of the opposite sex. What is you child learning? that fornication is not so serious a thing. It is funny! You cheer at the movies for the woman who "tells off" her wealthy unfeeling husband and leaves him for the arms of the poor, but passionate, musician. What are you teaching your child about marriage? Your children are learning more from your example than they ever will from your words. Remember, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
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God
"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Matthew 5:13Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element. Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor. When sodium and Chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride-common table salt-the substance we use to preserve meat and bring out its flavor. Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine. Love without truth is flighty; sometimes blind, willing to combine with various doctrines. On the other hand, truth by itself can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. Spoken without love, it can turn people away from the Gospel. When truth and love are combined in an individual or a church, however, then we have what Jesus called "the salt of the earth", and we're able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our faith.
David H. Johnson
There once was a little boy who had a very bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of a fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail each day he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that the nails were gone. The father took the boy by the hand and led him to the fence. He said "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one."
Our Christian family and friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make us smile and encourage us to succeed. They lend and ear, they share words of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us. We should treat them in such a way as to never leave a hole.
